broken
by cloudsongs
Summary: Bella is about to complete her first semester at Dartmouth when she spots a familiar blond vampire lurking on campus.


Summary: Bella is about to complete her first semester at Dartmouth when she spots a familiar blond vampire lurking on campus.

Chapter 1: The Meeting

Bella Swan meticulously wrote her week's schedule on a large pink planner with gilt-edged pages and chrysanthemums littering the hardcover. It had been Renee's gift to her before she started her first week at Dartmouth. Clearly her parents had coordinated for once, she thought as she stared at the startling $75 Tiffany pen Charlie had gifted her the same day -most likely chosen by Sue Clearwater. She sighed, grimaced, and stared at her schedule in disdain. Applying to the school for a Biology degree seemed like a terrible idea now with chemistry, biology, and calculus midterms looming in the distance.

It wasn't until she started her semester when she realized the severity of her decision to attend Dartmouth. Not to say that she didn't enjoy the environment or what she learned, but after realizing she was only on the verge of completing her first semester and already drowning in over $30,000 of debt…she wished she hadn't been so ambitious.

The thought of her financial ruin began to ruin her already sour mood. Maybe she should've taken her roommate's offer to go to that party.

She glanced at her surroundings, surprised at the nearly empty library since it was two weeks before finals weeks. A couple of sneakers squeaked nearby and clacking from a keyboard across the building echoed to her ears. The reflections of the soft glows of lamps dangling from the ceiling bounced back from the clear pane windows, making it difficult for her to see past the first few feet outside the library doors. But she still saw her own reflection staring back at her, auburn hair and a light blue sweater looking saturated against the now darkened windows. Bella slumped in her seat and rested her chin on her knuckles, thinking about how she would have to clone herself to get anything done, when her reflection in the window disappeared to be replaced by a tall figure.

Bella quickly turned around and gasped.

His skin appeared solid as marble just as it did a year ago, but somehow not quite the same, the lights shimmering the thin half-moons littered on his slightly warmer, tanner forearms. Instead of revealing his normally golden eyes, a pair of girly, pink, heart-shaped sunglasses sat on the bridge of his aquiline nose; his pink lips slightly open in a half smirk. His face was framed by wavy blond hair. The man sidled into the seat next to hers without a word, picked up her planner, and began to flip through the pages. Mouth open in shock, Bella tried to gather herself to speak somewhat eloquently rather that sputtering the question she wanted to ask:

"What are you doing here?"

Jasper Whitlock peered from over his unusual sunglasses at her. A bold of fear tore through her chest. His eyes were blood red.

"Jasper," she whispered his name in shock. A million questions flitted through her mind. How could this happen? Why was he here instead of with the rest of the Cullens? Why weren't they helping him? What is he doing here? Who did he kill….

He must have sensed her panic as she immediately felt his power take over. Bella's heart slowed, and she breathed deeply. She started again with her first question.

"What are you doing here?"

"I had some business to do in town and figured I would check on our favorite human," he said nonchalantly as if everything about this was normal.

Favorite human? Bella nearly scoffed at the words. Edward had abandoned her in the woods almost two years ago, leaving her with the ever-uplifting words of "I don't want you anymore." It hurt. It hurt a lot. It had left her in essentially a zombified state where she went through the motions of her life but never really partaking in the experience. It was after Charlie found out that she never submitted any college applications that he really put his foot down and forced her out. After several arguments and threats of sending her back of Renée, Bella finally agreed to go to therapy once a week and enrolled in a couple of online courses at a community college while she worked on her college applications. Charlie had remained in a constant state of hyper-vigilance, where he never let her have a moment to think alone unless it was to talk to her therapist. If he caught her sulking in her room at any moment, he would put her to work like teaching him how to cook, something that grabbed her attention for several months. At least she could proudly say that her father knew his way around a frittata. It was until all the negative emotions she felt boiled over and she cried in front of him during a breakfast in the middle of a nondescript week that she finally got over Edward and the rest of the Cullens.

Bella was in a bad mood having suddenly remembered the last two years. "You've checked on me and see that I'm doing fine. Anything else I can do for you?" she asked, coolly. Her question betrayed the ones she really wanted to ask. When he didn't say anything, she pursed her lips and decided to ask anyway. "Why are you off the…vegetarian diet?"

Her words put a small smile on Jasper's face. Bella couldn't see his eyes, so she couldn't tell if the smile was due to mirth or grief. The vampires she knew always had an odd sense of humor. He continued to stare at her through the heart-shaped sunglasses until he suddenly straightened in his chair and asked, "So, what are you studying, Bella?" Jasper turned her textbook slightly towards him to peer at the words. "G-alpha dissociates when..."

"If you're not going to answer me, I'll be leaving." Bella huffed and pulled the book back from him and shut it. She scooted the chair back noisily and stuffed the book into her backpack along with her planner.

Just as she pulled the strap over one shoulder and prepared to walk out, Jasper grasped her wrist. "Bella, wait."

Bella looked down at their point of contact in horror. Instead of the icy cold touch she remembered from the vampires, his hand around her wrist felt almost warm, maybe a few degrees colder than hers. Like he was out in the late November a few minutes too many rather than being dead. She shook off his hand and backed away, unsure of what to say. She looked him over again -his skin was tan, a trait that none of the Cullens shared, the scars on his arms were visible, his hand -the one that held her wrist just a second ago – felt rough and calloused but also soft.

If it hadn't been for the eyes and her knowing what Jasper was, Bella would've easily mistaken him for a living human.

"What the fu-," Bella started before Jasper suddenly sprung up out of his seat and put his palm gently over her mouth, his other hand closing around her wrist again. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she stared at her own fearful reflection in the sunglasses.

"Let's get out of here. I'll get you something to eat." Jasper dropped his hand from her mouth and started walking the other way towards the door, dragging her behind him. When she tried resisting, he turned around and said, "I'll explain everything."

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A/N: Review if you like.


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